SEPTA 48

April 25, 2012

Pennsylvania

Group of SEPTA Employees Claims $107.5 Million PowerballŪ Jackpot
During his lunch break, Bryant Vaders purchased 120 quick-picked Powerball tickets for his office Lottery pool, leading to a $107.5 million jackpot for the group.

Lottery Executive Director Todd Rucci today presented a ceremonial check for $107,533,278.27 to a group of employees of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), who elected to take the cash value of the jackpot. This amounts to $2,240,276.63 for each of the 48 shares, less federal withholding.

The group of winners, also known as SEPTA 48, put money into an office Lottery pool for the $172.7 million April 25 drawing, as they always do for a jackpot over $100 million.

The group's ticket, purchased at the Newsstand at the Gallery at Ninth and Market Streets in Philadelphia, matched all five white balls, 04-25-29-34-43, and the red Powerball, 29, to win the third-largest Pennsylvania Lottery prize ever awarded.

"I was really busy when I got a call from Bryant that the winning ticket was sold at the Gallery," said Pamela Schurgot, another group organizer and manager of contract grant compliance at SEPTA. "I thought he was messing around, but I dropped everything to check the tickets."

"We won!" Schurgot yelled from her office. She began writing an email to announce the news, but before she could finish, employees flooded her office.

Schurgot and nine other winners presented the ticket for validation Wednesday afternoon at Lottery headquarters in Middletown, Dauphin County. Lottery officials confirmed it was the jackpot-winning ticket after examining the ticket and executing proprietary security measures.